Calypso

This was rather affecting! Some intensely personal stories, coupled with what might be some of the most bawdy stories of his yet.

Romanians have the best insults

Genius!

Thank you David Sedaris for mentioning Romanians as number 1 at swearing(with compelling examples).

Really 3.5. Several laugh out loud moments, worth reading just for that.

You will find yourself chuckling, sometimes quite heartily, throughout. I really enjoyed it, I’m not really sure how to describe why, but I think it’s because it’s just a well-told story.

Absolutely wonderful, but then I'm a fan so I would say that. And I do think that being a fan of his other works, or at least having read them, is important with this book; it is another layer of his family's relationships and without the previous books you just won't get it, all the weirdo-technicolor-vibrancy. As a first David Sedaris book it will be entertaining, but if it's your second-third-eighth then it will knock you on your ass. Highly recommend.

This was so so so funny. I'd never read a Sedaris before, but I'd like to read another now. His sense of humor is so unique and more than a little strange. It doesn't perfectly suit my taste, because some of it was a bit crude and male for me, but he tells a fabulous story and I'd definitely come back to this because his work is masterful and memorable. A very good read.

I read several of David Sedaris' books in high school and really enjoyed them. He is such a funny writer and can make you truly laugh out loud. I hadn't read his work in years and found it interesting how his life stories and anecdotes have shifted since he's wildly financially successful now - like purchasing a waterfront vacation property on a whim! I was in a reading slump and this was the perfect easy reading to get me back into the zone. He weaves the comedy of daily life in with the tragedy of losing his mother and his regrets of never confronting her on her alcoholism and his more recent loss of his sister Tiffany. It's both gutting at times and laugh out loud funny at times like his previous works. I'd recommend it!

I've read nearly all of David Sedaris' books and they're generally all worth reading. I read a few bits out loud to my husband for the chuckles and while some of the stories are a bit uneven, there's a lot of honesty about his family life to make it all worth it. His conservative cheap-o dad is pretty similar to mine, so weird.

One of my top favorite Sedaris books so far, these personal stories are sometimes painfully piercing, most often hilariously witty, and always insightful. His unusual perspective on the strange thing that it is to be human, is a gift of which I never tire.

Very, very funny, and very much welcomed.

Not my favorite Sedaris book, but no Sedaris is bad Sedaris. And if he’s gonna talk about ruining his dad’s life with intentionally-bratty toilet antics, Fox pets, shopping for strange cost-prohibitive highbrow pants in Japan, the terror that lives in us all over crapping your pants on the plane, then I’m in. Plus I’m in love with David’s father and also he stories about his sister who died finally got me in the end when I thought there would be no more talk of her and I shed a few tears.

** spoiler alert ** Likes: - some parts were quite funny - easy listen. Good light book for a stressful time in my life Dislikes: - not really my type of book (I feel I have put in a good effort to get into this genre and while I can appreciate it some more now I still don't want to go out of my way to read books in this genre.) - Some of the bickering with his husband/family felt petty and avoidable

Although this book did manage to make me laugh at loud numerous times, I didn't fully grasp what Sedaris was trying to say and if there even was a common thread through the story. Rather it seemed like a collection of stories that were brought together by some recurring memories. Not at all a bad read, but would only recommend if you are looking for a lighter read which does not necessarily have a strong a message.

He is entertaining, and a little disturbing. Great suggestion I got from a friend: listen to the audiobook, it is narrated by the author and makes it more entertaining.

Easily my favorite Sedaris! I can’t recommend this enough. He’s so funny and the way he observes every day oddities are a treat. Reading this feels like hanging out with him, which I would love to do every day.

Funny as always, David Sedaris definitely gave me lots of laughs with this book. I have been reading his books for over 10 years and they never cease to impress. The reason I gave this a slightly lower rating is that I found some chapters a bit drawn out. I also think it's really important for the readers going into this to know that there is quite a bit of content warning like familial suicide, substance abuse, and death of parents. I think that Sedaris takes very challenging parts of his life such as watching his sister Tiffany's life fall apart, and later on her committing suicide, and tries to make peace with these events and move forward through humor. While I think this is a bit tough, I completely understand the coping method, and I think it's a talent to be able to see the light in really heavy times. I do think that this might be construed as crude or in pour taste to some readers, perhaps bordering on insensitive so fair warning. There were also a few crude scenes, which I personally did not take offense to, but I think some readers were. Overall most of the passages had me in tears from all the laughter, because yes Sedaris is that good, and I recommend this book to most unless again, the aforementioned parts may not be received lightly.

If Sedaris is good at one thing, it’s cracking a joke in the middle of a situation that probably doesn’t need one. Calypso is a book that discusses seemingly dark or hard themes, like death and aging. David Sedaris manages to do so with honesty, realism, and a dash of humor. That dry wit and dark humor prevailed in these essay’s and, more than once, had me re-reading a section over again to truly make sure I was reading it right. Unfortunately, throughout reading Calypso, I did find myself quickly losing interest. I found myself not caring about what was happening or being said in some of the essays. There were several I found to be very good, such as 'A Modest Proposal' and 'Now We Are Five'. I will agree that almost each essay has several different links in them that come together to form the true message or topic Sedaris was discussing and, in that regard, is something he does very well. There were others that didn’t do that, like 'The One(s) Who Got Away', which made me feel like I was reading a filler story rather than something important to the main point of the entire collection. In order to fully understand David Sedaris’ humor, finding and listening to his books on audio is the way to go. If I had listened to Calypso rather than read it myself, I believe I might have enjoyed it more. Being able to listen to where he puts certain emphasis on lines or does a voice for whoever he is writing about would make the essays much better to enjoy. Overall, Calypso is a good collection of essays that tell it like it is. Do I recommend others to read him? Yes. I think there is a particular kind of person who would enjoy his work and humor. In the future, I might venture into his other published works, if only to not let my impression of him be hampered by this one book.

I liked this one a lot. I've had mixed feelings about Sedaris and his work over the years, but this one's funny and (as I think I read on the jacket copy or in a review) more personal than some of his others.

I don't know. David Sedaris is a decent writer, but he's also just kind of mean. I quit when he was making fun of restaurants servers for not being linguistically interesting enough for his tastes. 🙅

the "hating people for wearing facemasks in airports due to fear of a virus" really didn't age well

This is my first Sedaris so I had no idea what to expect. Perhaps this is better if you are already familiar with his work. I did enjoy it and it was an easy read. However, there wasn’t much depth behind each essay, and I could tell they weren’t going to stick to me. I think my favorite was Untamed, because I too name and assign personalities to wild animals. Right now, I have a trio of crows who walk around my yard yelling at each other and their named are Mortimer, Mordecai, and Morris. Overall three stars and I’d like to read more of Sedaris in the future.